scitechcox - Keystone Integrator

This page represents my sample work for consideration as a Keystone Technology Integrator. I appreciate the opportunity to share my work and be considered for this recognition.

Teacher Presentation, Including Student Work Samples

KTI Video Transcript

Rationale for Project Selection:

The reason I chose this project for my submission was because it showed students using computers for their projects in much the same way that I use computers in my job. The computer is a tool to make the work better, but it is not the primary focus of the work. My goal was to have students understand electrical circuits, and to understand how electrical engineers can design circuits to control devices in complex ways. I wanted them to see that electrical circuits and switches can be constructed with pre-fab parts, or with aluminum foil and pennies. The computer work we did added two important elements to the project. First, the PhET circuit simulation allowed them to build an animated mental model of circuits that can be hard to get across with words. Second, the computer files students created could be edited and improved as their design evolved and their understanding improved. By the time they were done, their project might look like a shoebox with a tangle of wire inside, but their supporting documents would be clear and understandable. I think this project avoided a common pitfall in integrating computers into instruction, namely, allowing the particulars of the computer programs to bog down the underlying educational objectives. Here, I think the computer made the work go more smoothly and result in a better product.

References to PDE Academic Standards, Anchors, and Eligible Content

3.1.10.A Discriminate among the concepts of systems, subsystems, feedback and control in solving technological problems.

S11.A.3.1 Analyze the parts of a simple system, their roles, and their relationships to the system as a whole.

S11.A.3.1.1 Apply systems analysis, showing relationships (e.g., flowcharts, concept maps), input and output, and measurements to explain a system and its parts.

S11.A.3.1.4 Apply the universal systems model of inputs, processes, outputs, and feedback to a working system (e.g., heating, motor, food production) and identify the resources necessary for operation of the system.

Keystone Integrator Letter of Application

When students gain access to digital tools, they can take control of their education far more effectively than in a traditional classroom. Given the right tools, students can investigate, manipulate, and display data more quickly and clearly than they could on paper, engage in computer simulations that simplify and amplify their direct experiences, use the resources of the internet to access information that would have take much longer to find in a library of books, and present their work in a more creative way that is open to expansion and improvement. Digital tools can, on one hand, accelerate student understanding, saving time when compared with a traditional classroom, but can on the other hand take more time than a traditional lesson, as student become intensely engaged in technology-rich projects. Both of these differences, however, serve to improve student knowledge and competence.

This year a lesson in electrical circuits was enhanced with an online simulation that allowed students to design virtual circuits and test them quickly. The computer simulation improves their understanding in two important ways. First, in the “virtual” wires, the motion of electrons can be animated to help them see what is invisible in real wires. Second, the simulation allows students to make quicker changes in the virtual circuits than they could in real circuits expanding the range of circuits they can explore and encouraging them to ask and answer “what-if” questions. This activity did not replace traditional circuit-building activities, but allowed students to go back and forth from formal diagrams to real life, allowing them to make their formal knowledge more practical, and improve their understanding of their laboratory experiences. It also allowed us to complete our circuit lessons more quickly than students were able to in prior years, when the digital tools were unavailable.

I also give students a research topic, and a template for presenting their results to class. They completed a digital multimedia presentation that was then shared with the class. This digital multimedia project led them to a variety of Internet information sources, a set of images and diagrams (which they found or created) to illustrate their lesson, and a customized script that they rehearsed and enhanced before recording. While the process of creating and sharing the presentation took longer than it would have had I simply presented the lessons myself, the students gained mastery of their own area of technology and had greater interest in seeing the products of their peers.

Whether digital tools are used to accelerate or intensify study, they give students invaluable learning experiences. The tools they use in classrooms are closer to the tools they will need to master as adults, and the quality of their understanding improves as they learn to construct meaning from their lessons. The depth of this understanding always exceeds the passive, rote learning that characterizes many traditional classrooms.